M U R 
clafs of fillies. Gmelin doubts whether it fliould not at 
lead be a diftindt genus; and Cepede has made it one, by 
the name of Cascilia, adding Branderiana for the fpecific 
.appellation, becaufe it was fir ft noticed by Brander on the 
Barbary coaft. No organ of fight has yet been difcovered 
in this fifii ; the apertures of the gills are under tlie neck. 
It exudes a large quantity of vilcous matter, for which 
purpofe it has eight finali holes in the front part of the 
head, leven at the top, and feven more at the hinder part 
of head. In thefe reipefts it greatly refembles a genus of 
worms called Myxine by Linnasus, but which Bloch and 
Cepede have ranked among the fillies by the name of Gaf- 
trobranchus. The fnout is very long and pointed, and 
the jaws are furniflied with very fliarp teeth; the noftrils 
appear underneath the fnout. 
9. Mursena colubrina, the adder-eel: no pedtoral fins ; 
the body marked with yellow and black rings. It is a na¬ 
tive of Amboyna, having the outward appearance of a 
fnake ; the fcales are very minute. The Ihout is lharp; 
the eyes very ftnall; the dorfal-fin confifts of a vaft num¬ 
ber of very finall rays. Length, two feet. 
( 3 . There is a variety, of which the irides are brown 
with black fpots. 
10. Muraena echidna, the viper-eel: no peftoral fins; the 
head deprefl'ed ; the body variegated brown and black. 
This was found at Palmerfton Ifland, and is defcribed by 
Ellis in Cook’s and Clarke’s Voyage. Gmelin and Forfter 
doubt whether it be properly placed here. It is ugly to 
the fight, and like a ferpent; four or five feet long, ten or 
twelve inches thick. The head is fmall; the lips linooth ; 
the mouth arm^d with teeth, opens horizontally, and there 
are two barbies or cirri near the. noftrils ; the eyes are 
finall, but very bright. 
11. Mursena Javanicus, the Java eel: only one fin, and 
that a very fmall one round the tail; the body longer 
than the tail; fcales hardly vifible. This fifti is made a 
feparate genus by Cepede, under the name of Monopterus, 
or fingle-finned. It was found by Commerfon in the 
Strait of Sunda, near the Ifie of Java ; he confidered it as 
an eel, and has given a very particular defcription of it. 
It is very good tood; and lb plentiful, that quantities of 
them were brought every day on-board Commerfon’s Ihip 
by the natives. In tafte and lhape it could hardly be dif- 
tinguilhed from the conger-eel. The head is thick, cora- 
p relied, but fweliing out towards the occiput; and the 
fnout is rounded. The mouth is wide ; the upper jaw 
l'carcely protrudes beyond the lower; both are furniftied 
with fnort teeth as clofe as a file, and a fimilar row within 
the gullet and round the palate. The root of the tongue, 
which is griftly, is hollowed out underneath, and pre¬ 
terits two whitifh tubercles. The noftrils do not open at 
the extremities of tubes before the eyes, as in inoft of the 
fpecies, but over the eyes. The operculum of the gills, 
which is foft and flabby, appears like a duplicature of the 
common lkin ; the membrane is fuftained by only three 
rays, and thefe are not vifible but upon diffeftion: the 
gills alfo are but three on each fide ; the bones which 
fiupport them are very little curved, and on their concave 
fide have neither lerrature nor afperity. The rays of the 
caudal fin cannot be diftinguifiied in the recent fubjeft; 
the tail is very flat, like a two-edged blade. The lateral 
line, which is nearer the back than the belly, reaches from 
the gills to the tip of the tail, and is of a gold yellow. 
The back is livid brown and blackifh ; the fides have limi- 
lar ftiades, with tranfverle ferruginous bands; there are 
no fpots on the belly. The ufual length of this fifti is 
twenty-eight inches, their greateft circumference four ; 
weight about four ounces. 
12. Muraena helena, the Roman eel. This fpecies is 
known by an adipous fin, which originates at the anus, 
furrounds the tail, and goes more than half way up the 
back ; this fin, like the adipous membranes of other fifties, 
confifts of a continued lkin covering the flefh. As this 
filh has neither pectoral nor ventral fins, it forms a link 
bet.ween the fi(h and ferpent tribes. Bloch has placed it 
in a genus apart, by the name of Gymnothorax, or bure- 
M N A. 207 
bread, and has added the three following, which in like 
manner want the peftoral fin ; but the diftinftion is un- 
neceflary, as we have already two or three other bare- 
breafted mursena. 
The head is fmall, the mouth large ; the jaws are armed 
with (harp teeth, (landing apart, and fo (hutting into each 
other; there are alfo teeth in the roof of the mouth. The 
eyes are fmall, with a black pupil and yellow iris. Not 
far from the eyes and mouth are two hollow barbies. 
The aperture of the gills is narrow, and not placed acrofs 
the neck, as in mod fifti, but lengthwife; there is neither 
gill-covert nor membrane that can be perceived. The 
colours are very various in different places, according to 
the nature of their food and the waters they live in. Hav¬ 
ing no proper fins, the animal moves itfelf by the impulfe 
of the tail. They are-found both in frefli and fait water, 
but moftly in the lea ; hence Ariftotle places it in the 
number of thofe fifties who can live equally in frefli water 
or fait. They are found in the Antilles and the Me¬ 
diterranean ; in Sardinia, in particular, great quantities 
are caught. During winter they keep at the bottom of 
the water, but approach the (bores in fummer to regale on 
crabs and other little fifti; they prefer the polype, and that 
is the bed bait for them; they are fo greedy, that, for 
want of food, they will gnaw the tails of each other, and 
death does not follow, which proves that they are a hardy 
fifti; and in fafit it is known that they can live feveral hours 
out of the water. 
The ancients believed that this animal was endowed 
with a very acute lenfe of hearing, and that the fifliermen 
could allure it to the brink of the water by hiding, and by 
that means take it. The bite of the mursena was deemed 
fo poifonous by the fiftiennen, that, in taking the animal, 
they ufed every precaution to prevent its effects: they 
tumbled them immediately from the net into the boar, 
where they laid hold of the head with a.forceps, rubbed 
its fnout againft fome hard lubftance to deftroy its teeth, 
and beat it on the tail, where the life was fuppofed to lie. 
That the principle of life, among eels in general, is placed 
in the tail, is (till a prevalent opinion ; and, when taken, 
it is not by beating the head, but the tail, that the fiftier 
endeavours to deprive them of animation. Poifonous as 
the bite of thefe animals was fuppofed to be, and hideous 
in their external figure as they certainly are, yet thefe cir- 
cumftances did not prevent the luxurious citizens of an¬ 
cient Rome from adding them to the endlefs lift of deli¬ 
cacies with which they pampered their appetites. This 
fpecies, the bade, and a kind of mullet, farmed that pride 
of Roman banquets, the tripatinum; fo called, according 
to Arbuthnot, from their being ferved in a machine of 
three bottoms. The fielh of this animal mull be various, 
according to the manner in which it is fed ; it is faicl, 
however, to be in general white, tender, and of an agree¬ 
able flavour. It was reared with much care in the fifti- 
ponds of Italy, and fold at a high price ; of its eftima- 
tion among the ancients, we have fuil evidence in all the 
dallies, that have either praifed good eating, or ridiculed 
gluttony. A lenator of Rome, whole name will be tranf- 
mitted with infamy to pofterity, was highly complimented 
for the delicacy of his mursena. Tigellinus, Manucius, 
and all the celebrated epicures of his time, were loud in 
his praifes : no man’s fifti had fo rich a flavour, were fo 
nicely fed, or fo exaftiy pickled. Auguftus, hearing fo 
much of this man’s entertainments, defired to be his 
gueft; and loon found, .that fame had been juft to his 
merits ; the man had indeed fine muraena, and of excel¬ 
lent flavour. The emperor was delirous of knowing the 
method by which he fed his fifti to fo excellent a relifti; 
and the glutton, making no fecret of his art, informed him 
that his way was to throw into his pond fuch of his (laves 
as had at any time difpleafed him. Auguftus, it is faid, 
was not much pleafed with his receipt; and inftantly or¬ 
dered all his ponds to be filled up. Goldfmith, who nar¬ 
rates this ftory, adds, that it would have ended better, 
had he ordered the owner to be flung in alfo. When 
Csefar was honoured with a triumph, he gave fix thouland 
q£ 
